Al-Jumu'ah 2

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This entry brings together 3 instances of the use of this verse in Muhammad Shahrur’s books, linking it to the concepts and arguments that appear around it.

Text of the verse as cited

It is He who sent among the unlettered a messenger from among themselves … and teaches them the Book and wisdom

Reader’s answer

Question

How does Muhammad Shahrur read God’s saying: “It is He who sent among the unlettered a messenger from among themselves … and teaches them the Book and wisdom”?

In the available evidence, Shahrur uses the verse to describe the society of revelation as “unlettered” in the sense of cultural illiteracy: that is, ignorance of the books of the Jews and Christians and non-adherence to their religion, rather than merely an inability to read and write. As for attributing to the verse a definition of wisdom as “general divine instruction, not an independent Sunna,” this evidence does not establish it; he cites the verse in the context of his discussion of cultural illiteracy and does not explain the meaning of wisdom in it or its relation to the Sunna.

Shahrur adduces al-Jumu’ah 2 as evidence that the description “the unlettered” concerns cultural illiteracy, which he defines as ignorance of the books of the Jews and Christians and non-adherence to their religion.

Evidence and location

The Qur’anic Stories, vol. 1 — p. 25.

Limits of the reading

  • The evidence from “The Qur’anic Stories” establishes the use of the verse to explain cultural illiteracy, but does not explain the import of “wisdom” in it.
  • The occurrence of the verse in a list of Qur’anic loci in another piece of evidence is not, on its own, sufficient to establish a definition of wisdom or construct a relationship between it and the Sunna.

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Brief reading

The verse is used to clarify the meaning of illiteracy as cultural illiteracy and to affirm that wisdom is general divine instruction, not an independent Sunna.

Axes

  • Linguistic and semantic
  • Narrative and historical
  • Methodological
  • Wisdom: 2
  • Cultural illiteracy: 2
  • The unlettered: 2

Its place in the network of concepts

It connects the linguistic signification of terms with the construction of an epistemic concept in the reading.

The verse’s role in the argument

  • Support: 3

Instances of use

  • The messengerly Sunna and the prophetic Sunna, p. 49: He makes it the conclusion of an enumeration of the loci of wisdom in the Qur’an, as a prelude to defining it as general divine instruction, not an independent Sunna.
    • Concept: wisdom
    • Function of the verse here: support
    • Textual evidence: “And the last of them is in His saying, exalted is He: {It is He who sent among the unlettered a messenger … and teaches them the Book and wisdom …} al-Jumu’ah 2.”
  • The Qur’anic Stories, vol. 1, p. 25: He uses it to establish that illiteracy here means ignorance of the books of the People of the Book, not ignorance of reading and writing.
    • Concept: cultural illiteracy
    • Function of the verse here: support
    • Textual evidence: “God has described the society of revelation in His Book as unlettered. He says, exalted is He: {It is He who sent among the unlettered a messenger from among themselves …} (al-Jumu’ah: 2).”
  • The Book and the Qur’an, p. 124: He relies on it to maintain that the unlettered are those not affiliated with Judaism and Christianity, rather than simply those who cannot read and write.
    • Concept: the unlettered
    • Function of the verse here: support
    • Textual evidence: “{It is He who sent among the unlettered a messenger from among themselves …} (al-Jumu’ah 2).”

This page is presented within the general atlas-building methodology.

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Muhammad Shahrur Atlas